Psychosocial experiences modulate asthma-associated genes through gene-environment interactions.
Justyna A ResztakAllison K FarrellHenriette Mair-MeijersAdnan AlaziziXiaoquan WenDerek E WildmanSamuele ZilioliRichard B SlatcherRoger Pique-RegiFrancesca LucaPublished in: eLife (2021)
Social interactions and the overall psychosocial environment have a demonstrated impact on health, particularly for people living in disadvantaged urban areas. Here, we investigated the effect of psychosocial experiences on gene expression in peripheral blood immune cells of children with asthma in Metro Detroit. Using RNA-sequencing and a new machine learning approach, we identified transcriptional signatures of 19 variables including psychosocial factors, blood cell composition, and asthma symptoms. Importantly, we found 169 genes associated with asthma or allergic disease that are regulated by psychosocial factors and 344 significant gene-environment interactions for gene expression levels. These results demonstrate that immune gene expression mediates the link between negative psychosocial experiences and asthma risk.
Keyphrases
- mental health
- gene expression
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- lung function
- allergic rhinitis
- dna methylation
- genome wide
- machine learning
- peripheral blood
- healthcare
- single cell
- young adults
- cystic fibrosis
- air pollution
- copy number
- stem cells
- oxidative stress
- public health
- genome wide identification
- cell therapy
- risk assessment
- social media
- climate change
- physical activity